New Jersey Devils Prospect Update: The Prospect Awards

It’s the First Devils All-Prospect awards. See who won inside as voted on by me.

I thought it’d be fun to do an All-Prospect Awards post, so here it goes.

Best Forward Prospect — Arseni Gritsyuk

It was a fairly close contest for me between Assat forward Lenni Hameenaho and SKA St. Petersberg forward Arseni Gritsyuk, but I gave Gritsyuk the nod here. It’s very likely that Gritsyuk will not be a prospect for long as the flashy winger is expected to sign with the Devils and play in the NHL next year.

Gritsyuk finished ninth in the KHL this past season in points per game amongst players suiting up for at least 40 games. His 44 points in 49 games were a career high. The Russian winger added another five points in six playoff games.

Best Defensive Prospect — Anton Silayev

Big minutes defenseman Anton Silayev did not get enough credit for his season. The 6’7’’ behemoth, put up 2 goals and 12 points as an 18-year-old. According to Qant Hockey, those twelve points ties for the best ever for a defenseman in that age bracket in the KHL and is tied for 13th all-time amongst all skaters.

Seamus Casey also deserved strong consideration. The 21-year-old defender split between the AHL and the New Jersey Devils this past season, putting up 18 points in 30 AHL contests and 8 points in 14 games for New Jersey. However, Silayev got the nod here.

Best Goalie Prospect — Jakub Malek

This was another tight call, but I have to give the nod to Jakub Malek for dominating a higher league. Jakub Malek led the Liiga with a 2.09 GAA and finished fifth with a .910 SV% to go along with 15-11-6 record and 4 shutouts. Malek signed his ELC with the Devils last summer and one would expect to see him in North America next season. His stiffest competition for this award, Boston University Goaltender Mikhail Yegorov won’t leave this post empty-handed.

Most-Improved Prospect — Mikhail Yegorov

The tools were always there for Yegorov, steady, unflappable, big-bodied goaltender playing for the hapless Omaha Lancers for the USHL. The belief was once Yegorov moved over to Boston University, his game would improve with a better team around him. Few expected his rise to be so sudden.

Yegorov made the jump mid-season to start for Boston University during their second semester due to a lack of a backup goaltender for Mathieu Caron. Yegorov immediately stole the job away from the senior, posting a 11-6-1 record, 2.15 GAA and .927 SV% and taking Boston University all the way to the final game in the frozen four. One could argue that Yegorov was always this good and just needed the change in scenery, but even at the start of the year, Yegorov was doing everything he could to keep the Lancers relevant, posting a .912 SV%, up from .892 the previous year.

AHL Prospect of the Year (Min. 50 games skater/30 goalie) — Topias Vilen

Defenseman Topias Vilen wins this award almost by default as neither Simon Nemec nor Seamus Casey played the requisite number of games. Nico Daws deserved some consideration for his short stint with the Devils, but his AHL numbers took him out of the running. Most other Comets of note are past prospect age. So, Vilen earns the nod here.

Vilen had a quietly productive season with 23 points in 57 games and won the Ian Anderson Award from the team as their most-improved player over last season. Vilen only turned 22-years-old in April and still has a chance to play NHL games. The defenseman’s biggest obstacle seems to be the glut of players ahead of him.

Around the Pool:

• Forward Cam Squires joined the Utica Comets this weekend and recorded two assists in his first game in a 3-2 home season final game against Syracuse. Here’s a look at them.

• Devils signed Boston University forward Shane LaChance to his ELC. LaChance’s AHL debut went even better than Squires with the big forward potting a goal and an assist.

• Matyas Melovsky’s season is over but not without a fight. It’s officially Melovsky watch time for whenever the forward hopefully signs his ELC.

Final Thoughts

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